mone >> brown: then, we turn to the troubled nomination ofchuckhagel, presidentobama's choice to be secretary of defense, as republicans temporarily block a vote in the senate. >> woodruff: we talk to four new members of the house of representatives about the president's state of the union address, the stalemate in washington and more. >> brown: ray suarez gets an update on the south african olympic athlete known as blade runner charged today with murdering his girlfriend. >> woodruff: and we close on this valentine's day with love letters from president lyndon johnson to bride to be-- lady bird. >reading them tught, ese are beautiful, these are wonderful. that's exactly sort of thing that we all would like to receive. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoin

: still to come on the "newshour": the hold up onthehagelnomination;four freshmen on capitol hill an olympic star charged with murder. and a president's love story. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: senate democrats moved today to find a way to prevent the sequester-- across- the-board spending cuts, set to take effect march first. they called for smaller reductions in farm subsidies and the pentagon budget, plus a minimum 30% tax on million- dollar incomes. republicans are expected to oppose the measure because of the tax increase. house speaker john boehner said the burden is on president obama to break the deadlock. >> the sequester, i don't like it and no one should like it, but the sequester is there because the president insisted that it be there. where is the president's plan to replace the sequester that he insisted upon? >> sreenivasan: white house officials warned that letting the across-the-board cuts take effect would be disastrous. for his part, the president traveled to decatur, georgia, selling his plan to make pre- schoo

secretary of defense, former senatorchuckhagel, defendedhis record today and said america must engage-- not retreat-- in the world. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, we excerpt today's confirmation hearing, as republicans sparred with the former vietnam combat veteran about the war in iraq and more. >> brown: then, we have two stories from the middle east, beginning with a dramatic late- night rescue of syrian refugees, fleeing across the border to jordan. >> woodruff: and a margaret warner report about the threat a nuclear-armed iran poses to israel. > ty acmula enogh anium which is close to weapons grade, enough uranium which enables them to detonate one nuclear device: to me is clearly a redline. >> brown: former vice president al gore joins us to talk about his new book as well as money, politics and the future of democracy. >> the congress is virtually incapable of passing any reforms unless they first get permission from the powerful special interests. >> woodruf do americans trust the feral vernment? andrew kohut sa

.s. senatorchuckhagelfaceda hostile reception today from half of the committee that must sign off before he can become secretary of defense. his senate confirmation hearing centered heavily on criticism from his one-time republican colleagues. the atmosphere was friendly enough at the outset as chuck hagel began his big day before the armed services committee. he quickly sought to allay concerns on both sides about his positions on everything from iran to israel to nuclear weapons. >> no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record. my overall world view has never changed: that america has and must maintain the strongest military in the world. >> i believe, and always have, that america must engage, not retreat, in the world, but engage in the world. my record is consistent on these points. >> woodruff: but as a nebraska senator, in 2007, hagel angered fellow republicans when he opposed the surge of u.s. troops into iraq. today, his former close friend, arizona senator john mccain made clear, they haven't forgotten. >> wer

. >> ifill: then, we get the latest on the senate vote to confirm former senatorchuckhagelasthe next secretary of defense. >> woodruff: ray suarez talks with marcia coyle about today's supreme court arguments over getting a d.n.a. sample from a suspect who was arrested but not convicted of a crime. >> ifill: special correspondent kira kay previews next week's presidential contest in kenya, where memories linger from the violence that followed the 2007 elections. >> we talk about people dead. i think if you count it over time and those who don't know it's probably around 2,000. massive, huge kills. we were on the brink of civil war. >> woodruff: and we close with a conversation with gloria steinem about the women's movement and the pbs documentary, "makers: women who make america." >> we have realized that a majority of americans fully agree that women can do what men can do but we haven't yet realized that men can do what women do. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the

senatorchuckhageltobe the next secretary of defense. >> 12 days later, nothing, nothing has changed. senator hagel's exemplary record of service to his country remains untarnished. >> woodruff: in short, senate majority leader harry reid said, chuck hagel should have been confirmed before the president's day recess. at the time, the senate's 55 democrats could not get the 60 votes needed to end a republican filibuster against fellow republican hagel. democrat dick durbin of illinois condemned the g.o.p. opposition today. >> there's no question that there are some who bear some negative feelings torgd chuck hagel because of his independence and some of his votes in the past, even his support of president obama in the last presidential election. but this has been taken to a level that i never expected. >> woodruff: still mississippi's roger wicker and other republicans charged again that hagel is too willing to compromise with iran. and too willing to criticize israel. >> either we should disregard everything that the senator has said and stood for as merely hyperbole or this is a nom

and panetta got along fabulous. >> warner: speak of secretary of defense,chuckhagelwhodavid, president wants to be, the secretary of defense, hearing yesterday confirmation hearing before the senate, pretty rough going. what did you take away from that. >> i thought it was terrible. i thought he did a very poor job. we interviewed him, mark and i said nice things about him. i internal enjoyed the interviews hi with him but he really did a bad job. he projected weakness which is not something you want in a secretary of defense. conot even respond to pressure from senators with any divorce or vigor. he project aid guy who hadn't prepared. some of these questions were obvious about the surge, about some of the things he said on al jazeera. you have to have an answer. it's like somebody without walks into a big home of their life without having done their homework. so i still think he will be confirmed. on more or less party-line votes but if it was up to sort of a looking for a boost of, a sign of confidence this was not it. >> woodruff: how do you see? >> i disagreement i thought he was

to approvechuckhagelfordefense secretary. the party line vote on the former senator was 14-11. his fellow republicans challenged hagel's past statements and votes on israel, iraq and iran's nuclear weapons program, while democrats argued hagel was more than qualified. >> i just believe that the testimony of senator hagel was not reassuring. i don't think he did come across clear and convincing, that he understood our policies toward iran. and the fact that you don't understand why and you can't clearly articulate the bad news for america for the iranians' nuclear capability sharply and to the point is unnerving and for the times in which we live. >> the concern that i have is the suggestion that this man who has served his country really since he was a young man and enlisted in vietnam is not qualified to be the secretary of defense. i think it's just not accurate and reflects certainly a different understanding of his background and his experience than i have. >> sreenivasan: democrats want a full senate vote later this week, but republicans could delay it. the federal government ran a b

facility, a step the united states called provocative. >> sreenivasan:chuckhagelwassworn in today as the new secretary of defense, with federal budget cuts topping his agenda. the former republican senator from nebraska addressed pentagon employees who will have to manage some $46 billion in reductions starting friday. >> we need to figure this out. you are doing that. you have been doing that. we need to deal with this reality. we've got ahead of us a lot of challenges. they are going to define much of who we are, not this institution only but our country. >> sreenivasan: hagel won senate confirmation yesterday, despite the opposition of most of his fellow republicans. he succeeds leon panetta, who had served in the top pentagon job since july of 2011. white house officials conceded today it's unlikely the government will avoid those looming, automatic budget cuts. a spokesman said president obama will meet friday with congressional leaders, but there was no indication that any deal is in the works. tomorrow, senate democrats will try to bring up a stop-gap bill to delay the cuts

chuckhageliwould argue, is the most pro iran engagement u.s. national security cabinet since the 1979 revolution. this is an administration which desperately does want to do a deal with iran to diffuse the nuclear issue and to gradually reduce our footprint in the middle east. they certainly don't want to the go to war. and i'm not sure if ayatollah khamenei understands this is going to be the best deal he's going to get from the united states. >> suarez:. >> brown: well, the demands for the u.s. and others seems fairly clear and the push for sanctions go on. the iranians say they want the sanctions lifted first. so have you heard anything that suggests it's a sort of vicious cycle in that regard? >> this has also been a perennial challenge that synchronizing negotiations, who makes the first overture, but it's not within the realm of possibilities that the u.s. congress or president obama is going to remove sanctions before the negotiations start and i do see the two sides still being quite far away before any resolution can be reached. >> brown: you do? you don't see any particular

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